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Aaron's 312 - Hank Parker Jr. Notes Hank Parker Jr. / GNC Live Well Racing Pre-Race Notes EVENT INFORMATION - Event: NASCAR Busch Series Aaron's Rents 312; Time and Date: 1 p.m. ET, Saturday, March 10; Site: Atlanta Motor Speedway, Hampton, Ga. Live Coverage: FX (television) and PRN (radio); Qualifying: 1 p.m. ET, Friday, March 9; Happy Hour: Friday, March 9, at approximately 4:30 p.m. ET. LAST RACE (SAM'S TOWN 300) - Hank Parker Jr. scored his third top-25 finish in as many races in the No. 36 GNC Live Well Chevrolet. Starting 22nd in the March 3 Sam's Town 300, Parker fought an ill-handling car to claim a 22nd-place finish at Las Vegas Motor Speedway. STANDINGS - Parker now sits 14th in the Busch Series Drivers' Points Standings, while team owner Scott Welliver holds the 15th spot in the Owners' Points Standings. 2000 AARON'S 312 RECAP - Hank Parker, Jr. and his family-owned No. 53 team were on their way to a top-five finish in last year's rain-delayed Aaron's 312 event at Atlanta Motor Speedway. That is, until their entry ran out of gas with around 20 laps remaining in the 203 lap event. After limping his car to pit road for more fuel, Parker powered his way back up through the field to claim a 17th-place finish. CAR OF CHOICE - Parker will drive the same car at Atlanta this weekend that teammate Tim Fedewa piloted to a 16th-place finish in last year's NAPAonline.com 250 at Michigan Speedway. HELPING OUT - While some drivers spent their free time in the casinos of Las Vegas last Thursday, Hank Parker Jr.'s day off was spent traveling to local Las Vegas radio stations to promote a Speedway Children's Charities auction. The event, held at Sam's Town Casino on Thursday evening, March 1, raised more than $60,000 for the charity, which will benefit Nevada area youth. Fans bid on the chance to meet their favorite Busch Series or Winston Cup driver before the races on Saturday and Sunday. The chance to meet Parker sold for $400 dollars, allowing him to give a good-natured ribbing about his value to his friends and fellow drivers Jimmie Johnson and Jeff Green, who sold for $275 and $350, respectively. TOP CICCI-WELLIVER FINISHER - In all three races of the 2001 Busch Series season, Parker's No. 36 GNC Live Well Chevrolet Monte Carlo has been the highest finisher of the three cars in the Cicci-Welliver Racing stable. Parker scored a 22nd-place finish in last Saturday's Sam's Town 300, while teammates Tim Fedewa (driver of the No. 66) and David Green (driver of the No. 34) finished 28th and 40th, respectively. HANK PARKER JR. ON THE TEAM'S STRUGGLES SO FAR THIS SEASON - "It's extremely frustrating. We've been scratching our heads as to what to do so far this year. Some of the cars the No. 36 team uses had good runs last year with Tim (Fedewa) driving, but haven't been nearly as fast this season. The new tire compounds have got something to do with that and so does the fact that we haven't done as much testing as we'd have liked. We've got all the guys at the shop doing their best to pinpoint the problem. We want to get the problem fixed as quickly as possible." ON USING LAST YEAR'S NOTES TO SET UP THE CAR - "A lot of the notes have had to be modified quite a bit. This new tire and the new rules seem to have thrown us a curveball at a lot of these tracks. That's very frustrating. You'd think that some things would transfer over, but we've had to make some serious adjustments from last year's notes. We'll get a handle on it, but some other teams definitely are ahead of the game as far as knowing how to get their cars to perform." ON LAST YEAR'S AARON'S 312 - "I knew we were going to be close to a top-five finish. I had the opportunity to finish in the top-five, let's say that. With about 20 laps to go, I felt the engine go dead, right after I had passed the entrance to pit road. I was out of gas and I had to coast all the way around before I could get to my pit stall. That was the longest lap of my life. When I got fuel, we managed to get back up to 17th before the end of the race. It was embarrassing, but I wasn't the only one who did it, (Matt) Kenseth ran out of gas while he was leading the race. Knowing that makes it a little easier to swallow. ... But not much." ON THE RAIN THAT DELAYED LAST YEAR'S EVENT - "It was kind of funny. I was behind Kevin Grubb before the rains came. I was better in turns one and two and he was better in turns three and four. After the rain delay, he was better in one and two and I was better in three and four. It all kind of evened out, until I ran out of gas, that is. "The rain delay didn't really affect that car that much. We had been a little tight before the rain, so we loosened the car up a little when we got the chance. We ran a little faster in the cooler air of the evening, but otherwise, the rain didn't make much of a difference. The biggest thing is, you're all pumped up to race and then you have to sit there and wait to get the race finished. We all sat around and talked strategy, figuring out where the car was good and where it needed help. Other than that, we just relaxed, ate sandwiches, watched television and waited to get back to racing." CREW CHIEF BILLY NACEWICZ ON HIS TEAM'S PERFORMANCE - "We've been struggling a little bit. We haven't lived up the expectations I had at the beginning of the year, that's for sure. I think that we need a lot more testing and some more on track time to figure out what's going on. We haven't been able to test much for several different reasons, and with the harder tire compound and the new motors, we've got some adjustments that we need to make." ON TEAMMATE TIM FEDEWA'S TEST SESSION AT ATLANTA MOTOR SPEEDWAY - "Speaking with Donnie (Richeson, crew chief of Fedewa's No. 66 team), they unloaded their car at Atlanta and were fast right off the bat. But the more they worked on the car, the less success they were having. By the time they finished up, they said they weren't too pleased with the results. I don't know what that's going to mean for us in terms of our information. I'm not sure that the information they collected at that test is going to do us a lot of good. We'll have to see what happens when we get out on the track Friday morning."
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